ENDISWAL ("End This Wall") is one of the Glyphs you can find in a game of Desktop Dungeons. When used, this Glyph destroys a single wall tile in the dungeon to allow passage. This Glyph is available from the start.

Usage

ENDISWAL is cast by clicking on it, then clicking on the wall you wish to destroy.

Each use of ENDISWAL costs 8 Mana for most characters. For the Wizard it costs only 7 Mana, and for the Berserker it costs 10.

The Transmuter is a special case: Casting ENDISWAL with this character costs only 1 Mana.

Effect

When ENDISWAL is cast on a wall, the target wall disappears, leaving behind an empty tile. That tile can be moved through freely like any other empty tile.

This may allow accessing portions of the dungeon that were not previously accessible. It can also carve paths around monsters that are too powerful for the hero to defeat (especially Bosses).

Availability

ENDISWAL is unlocked from the moment you install Desktop Dungeons. It has a certain chance to appear in each dungeon you play, supposedly the same chance as any other unlocked Glyph (though this has yet to be proven conclusively).

Joining Binlor Ironshield's religion will automatically spawn an ENDISWAL Glyph on the same tile as the Altar, assuming the Glyph does not already exist in the dungeon (and has not yet been picked up and converted by the hero either). If created in this way, the Glyph must be picked up before any further worship of Binlor can take place.

For both the Transmuter and the Gorgon, the ENDISWAL Glyph appears on the starting tile when the dungeon crawl begins. The hero must pick up the Glyph if he intends to use it.

Stand-alone Use

Aside from the Transmuter and Gorgon (see below), most heroes will find little use for ENDISWAL as a part of their general strategy.

ENDISWAL has a relatively high cost, and its function is quite limited. It can be used in very specific situations, especially when a high-level monster is blocking your access to the rest of the dungeon. In such a case, use ENDISWAL on a nearby wall tile that you think (or know) would open up access to other areas. It takes some experience with Desktop Dungeons to figure out which walls can open up more exploration, based on the common layout of the randomly-generated corridors. Nearer the edges of the map, it is more likely that destroying one wall will only reveal more walls behind it. Nearer the center of the maze, walls are more likely to open into corridors.

ENDISWAL can be used by characters who have no other use for their Mana as a means of opening up more tiles for Health regeneration. At most, if the destroyed wall does not lead into a corridor, exploring the now-empty tile can reveal up to 5 new tiles (assuming none of them have been explored yet). This is usually achieved by digging diagonally towards the edge of the dungeon. If this happens, these tiles will give you (5 * Level) Health points and 5 Mana points (barring any other factors like BLUDTUPOWA). This doesn't cover the cost of the ENDISWAL Glyph, but the Health regeneration might help. This is good for Melee-oriented characters for whom Health is much more important than Mana. However, there's only so much diagonal digging you can do in each dungeon, so plan carefully.

In combination with BLUDTUPOWA, it is possible to repay the entire cost of a use of ENDISWAL, because when digging diagonally as explained above, exploration of the new tile will grant you 10 Mana; 2 more than the cost of the spell. However, at the same time you will not be regaining any health. This is a last-resort option for spellcasters who have run out of normal exploration tiles and really need a few extra Mana points.

Spell Combos

APHEELSIK

APHEELSIK poisons your enemies, ensuring that they stop regenerating as you go off to explore the dungeon and regain your Health and Mana for another attack. ENDISWAL helps here by opening up new tiles to explore when all other tiles have run out.

Do remember that, in almost all situations, this method will only restore your Health - you'll be paying through the nose in Mana for every casting of ENDISWAL. Therefore this method is useful primarily for Melee characters who can afford to waste Mana.

BLUDTUPOWA

As mentioned above, the BLUDTUPOWA Glyph allows your hero to potentially dig for Mana. This is done by digging diagonally into an unexplored area of the dungeon. As you step into the newly-empty tile, each tile explored around it will regenerate 2 points of Mana. If done correctly, you can reveal up to 5 tiles for 10 Mana - outweighing the cost of the spell by 2 Mana points. If you reveal only 4 new tiles, the spell will have paid for itself.

Do remember that while doing this, you do not gain any Health!

IMAWAL

The spell IMAWAL turns monsters into stone. The only real benefit from this is the Piety you gain from The Earthmother, assuming you are already worshipping her.

This of course creates a problem, because the new wall might be blocking your access to the rest of the dungeon. In theory, this is where ENDISWAL should come in.

Unfortunately, The Earthmother will be furious if you tried this, decreasing your Piety considerably and inflicting you with a condition similar to Poison (no Health regeneration from exploration). Therefore, it is far from an optimal solution.

If not worshiping The Earthmother you can still employ the same trick to destroy extremely tough monsters (up to level 9) who are blocking your path to a crucial part of the dungeon. You cast IMAWAL on the monster, then destroy the new wall with ENDISWAL. Note however that you will gain NO experience for this!

Specific Classes

Transmuter

The Transmuter subsists almsot entirely on the constant use of ENDISWAL. Each time the spell is used to destroy a wall, the Transmuter gains 2 points of Health per character level. This goes to offset the fact that the Transmuter does not regenerate Health during exploration.

To facilitate this, the cost of using the ENDISWAL Glyph while playing a Transmuter is reduced to 1 Mana only. This means that a single explored tile will, if it contains a wall, can be used to regain 2 Health (per level) instead of 1 Mana.

If BLUDTUPOWA is acquired, the Transmuter will want to leave it on at all times. This means you get 2 mana for exploring a tile, and (if it contains a wall) can covert that gain to 1 Mana and 2 Health (per level) instead (by destroying that wall). This is one Health point per level more than the normal exploration gain that other characters get per tile.

In addition, the low cost of ENDISWAL and the fact that the Transmuter will cast it repeatedly as part of his normal routine means that he would be prudent to worship either Binlor Ironshield or Mystera Annur. Binlor will give you 2 Piety points per use of ENDISWAL, while Mystera will give you 1 (or 2 if you've acquired the "Faith" boon). This can easily get you to 100 Piety with either god, with very little effort involved. Choose Mystera if you want to concentrate on spellcasting, and Binlor if you want to concentrate on Melee combat, based on the situation you're currently in.

Gorgon

Like the Transmuter, the Gorgon receives ENDISWAL at the start of the dungeon - it is spawned on the starting tile and must be picked up if you wish to use it.

Gorgons need this spell because whenever they kill a monster in Melee combat, it will instantly turn into a wall, potentially blocking your exploration. Unfortunately, ENDISWAL still costs 8 Mana points for the Gorgon, and so it is used more often as a necessity rather than a strategic tool.

Other than this, the Gorgon has no specific use for ENDISWAL, though it does incline the Gorgon to seek Binlor Ironshield for worship.

Half-Dragon

The Half-Dragon has a limited use for ENDISWAL, but clever use can lead to much easier fights.

Half-Dragons with their Knockback ability can knock enemies into walls. This destroys walls in the same way as ENDISWAL. However, to knock an enemy into an adjacent wall, your Half-Dragon hero needs to be standing in the directly opposite tile on the other side of the enemy. This can be tricky if the monster isn't standing in an intersection, and sometimes even that doesn't help.

If you cannot find another monster to push into the tile you want emptied of walls, ENDISWAL is a useful substitute. It may cost a lot of Mana, but it's not like the Half-Dragon has much use for Mana anyway (mainly due to their inability to cast BURNDAYRAZ).

The best-case-scenario for this is when fighting very high-level monsters, especially bosses. If you can free up a couple of tiles in strategic positions, you can knock the monster into a position where you can then continue knocking it into a row of walls with every attack you make. This substantially increases the amount of damage you do with each attack, especially if your Knockback ability is pumped up. This method is practically essential for beating the Factory dungeon, with its highly resistant Golem and Meat man enemies.

ENDISWAL and the Gods

Several Gods in the game have various opinions about the use of ENDISWAL - they may favour it or reject it, depending on their own particular creeds.

Binlor Ironshield

Binlor is the god of Miners, and respects any effort to dig through the dungeon. In fact, when first worshipping Binlor, he will attempt to generate an ENDISWAL Glyph on his alter tile. This will succeed if the Glyph hasn't been spawned elsewhere in the dungeon. If the hero has already found ENDISWAL and/or converted it, the Glyph will not be recreated.

Each successful use of ENDISWAL will grant you +2 Piety with Binlor Ironshield. This is particularly useful for the Transmuter, who casts ENDISWAL constantly during each dungeon crawl, and also somewhat useful for the Gorgon. ENDISWAL is the only Glyph you can use while worshipping Binlor that wll not cause an immediate drop of -1 Piety.

Also note that if you convert ENDISWAL while worshiping this god, you will immediately lose 1 Health Potion!

The Earthmother

The Earthmother protects the Earth, and destroying pieces of it is considered a travesty. Each time you destroy a wall with ENDISWAL, you will lose a certain amount of Piety points (exact amount not yet confirmed). In addition, you'll be inflicted with a condition similar to Poisoning, where exploration does not regenerate your Health.

Taurog

As with any other Glyph, Taurog will penalize you -5 Piety points every time you use ENDISWAL. Also, his reduction of Maximum Mana means you will usually remain with too little Mana to use the Glyph anyway.

Mystera Annur

Mystera grants +1 Piety for the use of any Glyph, ENDISWAL included. With the "Faith" boon, this is increased to +2 Piety. Most characters will not find this very useful, but the Transmuter definitely will. For the Transmuter, ENDISWAL only costs 1 Mana point to use, and is pretty much a constant necessity to boot. This means that the Transmuter can easily acquire all of Mystera's boons during a single dungeon crawl.

This is useful for turning your Transmuter into a powerful spellcaster, and pretty much necessitates that you find the BURNDAYRAZ Glyph to make use of it. It is very helpful for all challenge dungeons except the factory. Alternately, if you find that you would like to lean more towards Melee combat, you may prefer to go with Binlor Ironshield.